Pumpkin Week wrapped up this morning with donuts, hot out of the oven. The folks at Mighty-O Donuts in Seattle have perfected the organic, vegan donut. I have not perfected it quite yet, but after a false start, I’m on my way. You will need a non-stick donut pan in order to make these; I bought a Norpro for around $10.
I’d never made donuts before, but I stumbled across a recipe for pumpkin cake donuts on the King Arthur Flour website that looked amazing. Their recipe isn’t vegan- it calls for 3 large eggs. I was hoping that I could follow the recipe exactly as it is, and simply substitute the flax-water vegan egg substitute. I found out it’s not that simple.
My first batch came out bumpy. The batter was very thick and when I spooned it into the pan, it was stiff with ridges. I thought maybe that was normal and the donuts would smooth out as they baked. Didn’t happen. This is what they looked like when I took them out of the pan:
Fortunately I still had half the batter left. I added some almond milk to thin it out, and some baking soda to help the donuts puff up a bit more. The second batch came out much better. I’m posting the recipe with these changes. (I’d also cut the sugar and salt by a third and increased the spices from the original recipe.) As soon as I took them out of the pan, Matt ate three of them on the spot. He said they tasted “like cake”. Since these donuts are baked, not fried, I say, “Let them eat cake!”
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 3 Tbsp ground flaxseeds
- 9 Tbsp warm water
- 1 cup brown sugar (I used turbinado sugar)
- 1½ cups pumpkin purée (1 can pumpkin)
- ⅓ cup non-dairy milk (I used almond)
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1¾ cups + 2 tablespoons Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- 3 Tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease one or two 6-count donut pans.
- Combine ground flaxseed and warm water and set aside for 10 minutes.
- Beat together the oil, flax-water mixture, sugar, pumpkin, milk, spices, salt, baking powder and baking soda until smooth.
- Add the flour, stirring just until smooth.
- Fill the wells of the donut pans about ¾ full; use a ¼ cup of batter in each well.
- If the batter doesn’t smooth out, add a little more milk. Bake the donuts for 15 to 18 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of one comes out clean.
- Remove the donuts from the oven, and after about 3 minutes, loosen their edges and transfer them to a rack to cool. (If you only have one pan, repeat with rest of batter.)
- While the donuts are still warm (but no longer fragile), gently shake them in a bag with the cinnamon-sugar.
- If there are any left, cool completely and wrap airtight; store at room temperature for several days.
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I made these with fresh pumpkin puree, they turned out great!
I don’t have a donut pan so I just scooped a 1/4 cup of batter for each donut and placed it on a baking sheet, so they came out kind of spherical. When they were done baking and cool enough to not fall apart, I took the cap of an olive oil and punched it through the middle to create a hole. That leaves you not only with just donuts but donut holes too!
Wow, great idea! I LOVE donut holes!